Diminished Truth?

What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it. (Deuteronomy 12:32 KJV)


Let me give you an example of adding.  Let’s go back to the Garden of Eden where our Lord is speaking to Adam:


And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17 KJV)

Rather explicit, isn’t it?  Don’t eat it or you’ll die.  Skip ahead a chapter and Satan is misquoting, suggesting the command is wider than given. The woman corrects him, adding a bit:


Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. (Genesis 3:1-3 KJV)


Did Adam add that “Don’t touch it!” to Eve and she was really repeating what she heard?  Or did she add that herself?  Either way, the focus was changed from certain death to the fruit itself.

In Matthew 4, Satan’s temptations of the Messiah in the wilderness used scriptures, too.  Jesus, however, returning appropriate scripture, neither adding nor subtracting.  Why can’t we do as well?  Perhaps we do not know the scriptures as well:


Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. (Matthew 22:29 KJV)

There is not power in God’s word – God is the power and we neglect using that power available to us.  We place limits on what He is capable of doing, thinking in physical terms instead of spiritual.  Oh, we hear what the scriptures tell us – we don’t apply what we hear.

Why not?  Each one of us has a different reason for not applying God’s word to our own life.  Maybe we think we’re too small in the scheme of His plans.  Maybe we think we’re too sinful to be in His presence.  He’s told us different, throughout His word.

I like what John has to say about our knowing the truth and that God does not lie:


I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. (1 John 2:21 KJV)

Yep, we know.  May the Lord give us guidance, courage and strength to apply the truth to our own lives.

That gives us freedom.